HP’s VP Kerris: WebOS one of the Key Things that will Differentiate the TouchPad from Other Tablet Devices

Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) Vice President Richard Kerris talks with FBN about next week’s launch of the HP TouchPad and webOS. Kerris states that the future of consumer technology is “actually about the spacing” between consumers digital life and “about the seamless connectivity,” saying “the space in between is really important to get done right, and that’s what webOS really does.” Regarding the launch of the TouchPad, Kerris stated “it’s about webOS” which he believes is” one of the key things that’s going to differentiate us out there.” Highlights from the interview are below, courtesy of Fox Business Network.

On the launching in a marketplace with well established players:
“First of all it’s about webOS. It’s about an operating system built from the ground up for the web. And because of that we have a lot of capabilities that are unique to the platform, such as synergy, where we can tie together all the different elements from your digital life, whether it’s photographs or email. We’re not afraid of any websites or flash sites, things like that, your calendars. And we bring it all together in one easy to use and easy to manage way. And I think that’s one of the key things that’s going to differentiate us out there.”

On the competition for the HP TouchPad:
“I don’t think android has done a great job with the honeycomb of tablets. There’s a lot of fragmentation for example, and developers are frustrated. And of course Apple makes great products. But I think the way we look at ourselves is one area is a closed kind of walled garden, and it’s beautiful, but it’s walled and it’s their way or the highway. And you have the other area which is kind of the wild wild west, and it’s fragmented and it’s anything goes. And that’s kind of frustrating to developers. And here we come in the middle. We make our own hardware. We make our own software, and by providing a confident and consistent environment for both developers and customers, they are going to have an experience of one they will really like. But we’re not afraid to open up too. We support what we call the homebrew community which allows you to go off the beaten path if you want and explore other areas. And some phones or tablets will call that jailbreaking, but not us, we think that’s really great to do. So I think we have a nice spot in the middle here.”

What’s next for webOS:
“There’s lots of things next. HP has committed to webOS across the board. We’ve already said we’re going to put webOS on our printers and our notebook computers starting next year. Put that into perspective, HP ships 2 notebooks every second. So in a short period of time we’re going to have huge footprint for developers to succeed on our platform.”

On the PC market coming back:
“I think it’s actually about the spacing between them all. It’s about the seamless connectivity whether you are in the office on a computer, home on a tablet, on the road and on a phone, how do you keep all of that stuff connected and do that seamlessly without having to think about it. We don’t use any cables for updates, we do all our updates over the air. We don’t use cables for synchronization, so you can be on the beach updating your software. So there’s a lot of things we think about as the space in between is really important to get done right, and that’s what webOS really does.”